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Tom-Tom was not all that attracted Clevelanders to their big, year-old Municipal Stadium ("Tin Horseshoe"—prices $3 top). It was an opera week for Cleveland, built up by the same two who, under Impresario Guy Golterman, directed Cleveland's first outdoor opera (for charity) last summer (TIME, Aug. 10): 26-year-old Laurence A. Higgins, and Dr. Ernst Lert, onetime Metropolitan Opera stage director (whose sister-in-law Vicki Baum was in Cleveland last week). This year they have organized a group called Laurence Productions Inc. "to present grand opera as they see it" in many cities. In Cleveland they rebuilt last year's stage, moved it closer to the grandstands. Still the largest outdoor stage ever built (50,000 sq. ft.), it is now the first unit opera stage, has the largest portable outdoor stage lighting equipment ever assembled. They built ten great ramps tilted toward the audience, broke these up into myriad levels. There is a revolving unit 30 ft. high, which last week furnished a mountain pass in Carmen, a monster throne and then a tomb in AH da, the waterfall in Tom-Tom. For the mountain in last week's Die Walküre, nothing less than a real one would do, so Laurence Productions built one.
For their choruses, second-string sing ers and orchestra players, Laurence Productions drew largely upon Cleveland tal ent. They assembled 500 performers for Carmen, plus donkeys and mules. To last year's spectacular Aïda, they added 100 new spear-carriers. The small, patient, well-scrubbed elephant of Aïda was present once more, figured also in Tom-Tom. In Die Walkure there were not the usual nine but 17 Valkyries galloping over the mountain. Brünnehilde's eight new sisters were given made-up. Wagnerian-sounding names like "Ritthelle." "Kampfsiege," "Trautschilde." There were real gas flames, 10 to 40 ft. high, for the Magic Fire scene. In Die Walküre sang Soprano Elsa Alsen, Basso Fred Patton. Tenor Georg Fassnacht Jr. from the Freiburg Passion Play. In Aïda were Tenor Paul Althouse, Soprano Gina Pinnera.
But Carmen had the best headlinemaker. Mary Garden, returning from retirement in Corsica, pranced and wiggled gaily, took her bows with seasoned enthusiasm. Though the amplifiers helped the small Garden voice, critics found her inclined to "yodel." Said she afterwards: "You know that role is a little low for me, but always they have had me as Carmen. Always they have pressed it upon me. I don't know why, but they did."